FUCK YOUR GRANDMA

2017
Textile collage on embroidery

 
A friend gave me this embroidered picture.
“I took it from my grandmother. I wanted to sell it on OLX. I set the starting price at 3000 hryvnia. No buyers. I knocked it down to 2000 – still nobody was interested. Then 1000, 500, 400, 350.  Maybe you can use the frame?”
It’s a nice picture, bright colors, uplifting. It must have taken a long time to make. I can’t understand why nobody wanted to buy it.
I embroidered a little as a child. My grandmother taught me. I remember once I made a pattern of a camel. Although it was small and simple, one color, I was very proud of it because I made it by myself. I have no idea where that piece of cloth is.
I was very close to my grandmother. She had a strong influence on me. She tried to instill traditional values – we went to church together. My grandmother died when I reached that difficult age when children begin to shape their identity in society, when you search for your own strategies of behavior, often coming into conflict with those raising you. My grandmother may have missed this period of my formation, but she left a lot of stitches in my young mind, which I still find today and try to undo.
But I don’t think everything should be torn out, unstitched. My grandmother was only following a pattern. She wanted to create a nice picture, one that suited her taste. It’s stupid to waste time untying something!
What am I to do? I didn’t give a shit about that pattern! I have my own. It’s also nice, not any worse! And if you place one atop the other, it’s twice as nice.

Їбала я твою бабушку


Один товариш подарував мені цю картину, вишиту хрестиком.

«Я забрав її у своєї бабусі. Хотів продати на OLX. Поставив спочатку ціну 3000 грн. Ніхто не цікавився. Збив до 2000 – ніхто. Потім до 1000. Потім до 500, до 400, до 350. Одним словом, може, тобі рамка знадобиться?»
Картина гарна, яскрава, життєствердна. Мабуть, довго вишивалася. Не розумію, чому її ніхто не купив.

У дитинстві я також трохи вишивала хрестиком. Бабуся мене навчила. Пам’ятаю, одного разу я придумала схему і вишила верблюда. Вишивка була зовсім невеличка і дуже проста, одноколірна. Але я дуже пишалася результатом своєї праці, адже я сама все придумала і виконала. Не знаю, де зараз той клаптик тканини.